Over the past 15 years, intravenous chemotherapy has become the most popular conservative (eye-saving) method for retinoblastoma treatment because it is often effective and usually safe. In recent years, there has been much interest in providing highly focused (focal) chemotherapy to a diseased organ including the liver, brain, and eye. With focused chemotherapy, the chemotherapy drugs are injected directly into the ophthalmic artery (the artery that supplies blood to the eye). A benefit of focal chemotherapy delivery is that it decreases the chance of toxicity to other organs such as bone marrow suppression (causing low blood counts) and the development of other cancers in the future.

The management of retinoblastoma includes systemic chemotherapy (carboplatin, etoposide, and vincristine), thermotherapy, cryotherapy (freezing treatment), laser photocoagulation, plaque radiotherapy, external beam radiotherapy, and enucleation. The treatment is tailored to each individual case. Over the past 15 years, intravenous chemotherapy has risen as the most popular conservative (eye-saving) method for retinoblastoma management because it is effective and safe. In recent years, there has been keen interest in providing chemotherapy more focally to a diseased organ including the liver, brain, and eye. The benefit of focal chemotherapy delivery is to avoid toxicity to other organs and this toxicity includes the risk of future cancers.

Eligibility

Genders Eligible for Study:

Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Advanced retinoblastoma in one or both eyes

Recurrent retinoblastoma after failure of previous treatment

No age limit (usually kids presenting with retinoblastoma present in the 1st two decades of life)

Judged by principal investigator to be medically and physically able to undergo the procedure

Exclusion Criteria:

Recurrent retinoblastoma which is treatable with other conservative measures

Invasive retinoblastoma (retinoblastoma that has grown locally outside of the eye, for example, into the bone around the eye)

Contacts and Locations

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00857519